Mirror Wall
by cityofshadows
Summary: A young woman plagued by insecurities thinks fondly of an old friend while objectifying herself to a room full of strangers. Mai Kujaku/Valentine.


**NOTE: I do not own Yuugiou/YuGiOh. **

**Yuugiou/YuGiOh is a property of Kazuki Takahashi, Shonen Jump, TV Tokyo, and 4kids Entertainment.**

**As much as I'd like to be apart of all that, sadly, I am not.**

Please enjoy this strange little fanfic I made a couple of years ago but never published.

It's a tribute to Mai Kujaku/Mai Valentine. She's a very unappreciated character but one of my favorites in the Yuugiou series.

If you read this and like it, let me know. If you don't like it, let me know too! I enjoy feedback whether it's criticism or praise.

Thanks!

* * *

Heavily applying her make-up, a young lilac blonde looked despondently into her dresser mirror. Lines of experience formed around her eyes but she did not take this as an honor nor a coming of age but as of a curse. She was getting older and none of the dreams she had desired had yet to come true. Moving her delicate hands to the right side of the checker colored dressing table, she reached for the foundation brush and began applying it furiously to the dark circles and lines underneath her eyes. In her mind's eye she looked utterly wretched; an old woman who was just going through life waiting to die. She had thrown time and money into her dream of becoming a top ranked duelist but she had never landed where she truly wanted to be.

A card shark and an indomitable woman, she had assembled a powerful deck of Duel Monsters cards a worldwide popular game that had inspired the imagination of many. In her most fraught times of survival, her imagination had taken her far away from her tragic and dejected life. Disregarded by her parents as a young child, she had found solace in the three Harpy Lady Sisters, a prevailing trio of wind-based monsters in the Duel Monsters trading card game. To the child within, these Harpy Ladies were the closest thing she came to a family. They also inspired her to be just as uncompromising and deadly as they were when it came to any other monster on the field of life.

She held twenty seven years of existence in this life to her name but felt as though the sands of time had caved in on her far too early. When she looked in the mirror she saw a face that had aged rapidly and had become unattractive and desolate. She was at a point in her life when she doubted her talents and abilities. It was true; all she believed that she possessed was beauty and even now she was beginning to believe that this one good thing she possessed was slowly fading away.

Lining her lips adroitly, she stared at the mirror and grimaced. She never liked her lips; they were petite and didn't have a defining heart-shape. She felt tears coming on as she analyzed all the faults in her appearance.

"Ms. Valentine," chimed a gruff voice. The young woman turned to face a middle-aged man who stood intolerantly at the end of the room. "You're on now. They're waiting." The man tapped his foot as she arose from her seat.

"How do I look?" she asked in the best Audrey Hepburn manner she could fabricate. The man just blinked at her and scowled.

"Listen, Mai. I'm not here to converse with you or be your friend. It's your job to go out there, give them a number, take the money, give me MY cut for putting up with your crap, and then leave. So don't try to socialize with me when there's work to be done!" reprimanded the man.

Batting her indigo eyes seductively, Ms. Valentine touched the shoulder of the older gentleman. "If you say so," she denoted. "Just remember I'm the one that brings in the customers. Not you and your sorry excuse for male chesticles!" With that, the sly flaxen woman shoved her manager to the side and headed onto a stage where lights filled the theatre and exotic music boomed from up high.

The confidence she feigned is what gave her an intimidating aura of unadulterated seduction. Yet, behind those eyes that shimmered a faux confidence laid the insecure woman in the mirror that only saw the lines of time cracking her face.

_It's all a misapprehension_

_The life we lead, how we live it._

_There's nothing more revolting than the human race._

These were the thoughts that filled her mind as she grabbed hold of a golden diamond-studded pole in the middle of the stage. She swirled her body in the most virtuous comportment; the sounds of the theatre's crowd only blurred in with the composition. She paid no mind to the humans that watched her perform her supreme act for they only knew her as a common whore who beamed at the sight of tips.

As she danced in her ersatz confidence, she thought back to the day of her first defeat in Duel Monsters. It was fresh in her mind as if it had happened not but a day ago. An adolescent boy stood within her memory. A tawny reflecting gaze stared back at her; it was guiltless but still the face that defeated her nonetheless. A sparse grin appeared upon the boy's face as he put up a defining thumbs up.

_We'll be friends no matter what, Mai._

_Dueling is more than just 'bout trouncin' your opponent!_

_You've gotta put your heart in yourself and the cards._

_More importantly, you have to believe in yourself!_

Those words rang within her ears from the tongue of the youth that had defeated her for the first time. It might seem like it would be horrendous to relive the words of an adversary but all she could do was smile as the words rung through her mind. She remembered losing, questioning her strategy as to how she lost. It became apparent that she was putting on act during the game, playing tricks to boost the chances she might win all because she was afraid to trust in her abilities and afraid to trust in herself.

_Can't you let your guard down? Just this once?_

"No," she mouthed continuing her dance. "I'll never let my guard down."

A wall of glass surrounded her if only within her mind. Mirror wall. Reflecting and retracting all the attacks that came at her through an abrasive and cunning attitude. She'd learn that the safest feeling in the world was being behind a fortress that could reflect anything that could hurt her right back at anyone that tried to get in. Life is a battle; everyone is a duelist. And no one, absolutely no one, can be a friend.

She knew this.

She knew she'd die alone for knowing this.

But the memories of that young boy were still within her mind and they kept her company. She knew she'd never forget him; she just wondered if he'd forgotten her.


End file.
